koh lanta, Thailand

Now that we are safely over the border from Malaysia and a litte tired from the travelling, we headed to Puket for some serious rest and reaxation by the beach. I (maz) have caught the cold so in need of some pampering. We headed first to Karon, a small bay just next to Phuket, we were really disappointed with Ph uket, its like Benidorm in a lot of ways - totally commercialised and street packed with wall to wall bars, touts and tour operators, such a shame. We were both looking for something more along the lines of "the beach", minus leonardo de crap rio. So we headed of to the Islands south of Puket, firstly Koh Phi Phi - It was beautiful, really cool place to chill out for a few days. It was bady hit by the sunami a few years ago, though is getting back on its feet. Theres alot of rebuilding going on, though the Island has so much charm you kinda don't see the debris. We met some lovely thia friends there who told us their personal experiences of what happened. These people could teach us a thing or two - they have such a positive outlook on life, seem really happy and friendly. Must be the big Buda that does that! We went on our first long tail boat day trip, taking in sights like the beach location used for the film "the beach". Great day out. Although the Island is lovely is quite buzzin - a bit like Ibiza, so we hit the road again, insearch of the ultimate chill Island.

From Koh Pi Pi we headed to Koh Lanta, glad to say we found our chill out paradise. Deserted beaches with little beach bars along the front. Chilled there for 3 days not doing much alot except snorkelling, waking on beach, massages and sunbathing - hard life!!

Anyway I think Brian is about to explode with the lack of action - so we're hitting the road tomorrow off to Cambodia via Bangkok............

Just over 2 weeks left, we can't believe it, so off to make the most of it.